Why this Indonesian-Chinese Instagram influencer’s layer cakes sell out so fast, and how she uses cooking to tackle misconceptions about Indonesian culture
- Beauty and fashion influencer Kelly ‘Spoon’ Chan recently launched her food brand Rumah in Hong Kong, selling a single product: kue lapis, or layer cake
- She wants to use her platform to celebrate Indonesian culture, she says, and starting it has helped her find herself again and shout louder about her background
In an Instagram story, wearing a stylish red cocktail dress, Kelly Chan – better known as Spoon – presses the button for the lift in the lobby of an industrial building. Stop there, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the style influencer must be on her way to some trendy warehouse party.
But tap forward to the next story and you will see Chan still wearing the cocktail dress – but now, she’s tying a white apron over it.
The real party is long over. Now, late at night in a shared kitchen space on the south side of Hong Kong Island, she’s about to settle down for some intensive research and development for her online food brand, Rumah.
Chan conceived the idea with her friend, food consultant Mel Ng, around Lunar New Year this year, and quietly soft-launched the brand on her social media platform in April – at least, as quietly as someone with more than 140,000 followers on Instagram can.
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Indonesian-Chinese influencer reimagines her mother’s kue lapis for the Instagram generation
In the months since, her single product has garnered cult status, selling out within minutes each time they’re released for pre-orders online. That must-have item? Kue lapis, a traditional Indonesian steamed dessert.
Chan reimagines the dessert – whose name translates as “layer cake” – for the Instagram generation.